


Rumours

by ThatMasterOnline



Category: Far Cry 4
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 13:41:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14498217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatMasterOnline/pseuds/ThatMasterOnline
Summary: The Golden Path have been spreading rumours about Ajay. Sabal tried to get to the bottom of it.Mentions of suicide in terms of bullying. Nothing major, it's one line.





	Rumours

There was a rumour going around about Ajay. Sabal couldn’t say for sure that it was about Ajay, but he heard a lot of whispers and giggles that stopped whenever he approached and only started up when they thought he wasn't within earshot anymore. That meant they didn’t want him to hear the rumour, which meant it was either about himself or about Ajay. Nobody would let him in on gossip about the son of Mohan. It was well-known that he practically revered him and wouldn’t stand for anything negative being said about him. Those were his options, and considering rumours about him had long since gotten boring, he could only assume they were about Ajay, the shiny new Golden Path member who just happened to be Mohan’s son. Yes, the rumour was definitely about him.

Sabal didn’t know what the rumour was, but that was to be expected. Nobody would be stupid enough to openly badmouth Ajay in front of him. The problem was, those same people were apparently stupid enough to openly badmouth Ajay in front of Ajay, and it was taking a noticeable toll on him. He’d been withdrawn lately, sticking around Banapur and keeping to he safe houses, and then disappearing when even those didn’t offer enough privacy. Sabal hadn’t seen him smile in weeks. For that matter, Sabal had barely seen him in weeks.

He’d asked Ajay what the matter was, of course, but all he’d gotten in reply was a sullen ‘it’s nothing’. Furious that it had become this disheartening to Ajay already, Sabal spoke to the next Golden Path members he saw.

“The rumours need to stop,” he snapped at the end of a strategy meeting.

“Wh...what rumours?”

“The ones about Ajay. Or are you about to tell me the giggles I’ve heard and Ajay sulking and disappearing for weeks on end are just coincidence?”

“There...there aren’t any rumours…”

“There better not be, and you had better spread the word that these nonexistent rumours are going to stop. What would happen if Ajay left the Golden Path because of them?

“Ajay wouldn’t leave the Golden Path because of rumours, Sabal.”

“So you admit that there ARE rumours.” Another Golden Path member stomped on the speaker’s foot.

“They stop TODAY.”

“Yes, sir…”

They didn’t stop, Sabal soon realized, people just got better at hiding the giggles, only discussing it in the confines of the safehouse, but never thinking to try and keep the giggles out of Ajay’s earshot.

Ajay stopped going into Banapur at all. The only reason Sabal knew he was still alive was because he was still getting reports of cleared outposts and the occasional glimpse of Ajay. A few weeks later he caught wind of bets being placed, though on what, Sabal never got close enough to find out, no matter how much he tried. He was starting to think he’d have to interrogate his own people to find out what the hell was going on. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but he’d do it to try to help make the rumours stop. 

Sabal could mark on a calendar, hell, on a clock, the moment when Ajay discovered the bets. He barely saw a glimpse of Ajay, but he felt a pat on the back and heard a mumbled ‘see you around, Sabal’.

And then he didn’t.

He never saw Ajay again, and even the reports of cleared outposts stopped coming in. Ajay was a ghost, nobody saw him. He ignored all attempts at communication until Sabal begged him to respond so he knew Ajay was alive, but even then all he got was ‘Yeah, I’m alive’. Sabal had never been more happy to hear Ajay's voice, but he wouldn’t say where he was.

“DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU’VE DONE?!” He shouted at every Golden Path member within earshot, “We had ONE hope to push back against Pagan, and you ruined it for GOSSIP!!” Sabal pulled out a map and started glaring at it, as though hoping it would just come out and tell him where Ajay was. A few Golden Path members shakily volunteered to help search, but Sabal shut them down with a snapped ‘you’ve done enough damage’.

Sabal spent hours glaring at the map, making marks with a pen. Ajay hadn’t been seen at all, so he couldn't be at any of the outposts. He crossed them off. Ajay couldn’t be up north, or at least it was very unlikely. He made a line between the south and north, but didn’t cross off that half of the map yet. He hadn’t been seen at all, which also eliminated the possibility that he was staying in a village somewhere. Sabal stared at the map. That meant he was out in the wilderness! Ajay wouldn’t be hanging out in the wild, he had no means to survive. But where, then…? Slowly Sabal’s gaze fell to a belltower. And then to the six or so that were located in the area Ajay had managed to liberate for the Golden Path. Ajay had hacked all of them. Nobody would have reason to go there. He waved a nearby Golden Path soldier inside, ignoring the way the man was shaking in his boots. He damn well deserved to shake.

“Which of these belltowers used to have royal army soldiers living in them?”

“Uhh...can I check around and get back to you?”

“Quickly.” He almost chuckled to himself when he heard the soldier shouting to the whole village, asking which belltowers had beds. He was back in ten minutes.

“This one, and this one, is our best guess.”

“Good. Fifty-fifty shot.”

“Would you like me to check the other…?”

“No. I'll go myself.” Ajay had only said goodbye to him. That meant he felt Sabal was his only ally. It would be best if Sabal found Ajay, alone. He’d be less wary. Hopefully.

It took only a couple hours to drive to the first belltower. Sabal scaled it, but found no sign that it had been lived in recently. Well, that meant there was only one other option.

Sabal found himself becoming nervous as he drove up to the last belltower. Ajay had distanced himself from everything, from everyone, for a reason. What if he wasn't glad to see Sabal? What if he simply found another place to hide out? What if he left, really left? So many things could go wrong. He climbed the belltower, pulling himself up to the top, ignoring Rabi Ray’s constant rambling and the terrible  
music.

It turned out that Sabal didn’t have to worry. Ajay didn’t even acknowledge his approach. In fact, his guns were on the other side of the floor, well away from where Ajay would reach them in a pinch. It looked like they had been discarded.

“...You should keep your guns nearby, brother. What if I had been an enemy?” Sabal could have sworn he SAW the clouds darken over Ajay’s already cloudy mood. If he tried hard enough, he thought he could see rain droplets too.

“Then I guess I’d die.” That was it. Matter of fact, like there was nothing he could do about it, so he wasn’t going to bother trying. Sabal shuddered.

“Ajay...You can’t speak about yourself like that…”

“To you. That’s why I'm here. Nobody talks to you, nobody’s around to care what I do or how well I do it. ...Speaking of, I’m tired of you being here. Go back to Banapur, leave me alone. I’m fine here.”

“You’re surviving here, but you’re not thriving. The mattress can hardly be comfortable, and surely you must be getting lonely. Come back home. You have...” He faltered, but Ajay filled in the blank.

“...Friends?” Ajay finished, and Sabal flinched. Of all the times for his words to fail him…!

“...Really. I’m sure you were so surprised to hear I’d left and wasn’t coming back.”

“Ajay, I…” Ajay waited.

“...Come back.”

“No.”

“Ajay, whatever they were saying, it wasn’t true, you know that.”

“...No, I don’t. You think I’d let some bullshit rumour get to me if I knew it wasn’t true? No, the problem wasn’t the rumour, or the laughter, it was how true it was. How much I deserved to be laughed at.”

“You never deserve to be laughed at, Ajay.”

“Don’t I? Do me a favour, Sabal, shoot that tree over there.”

“Why?”

“Target practice. Or don’t you want to know why everyone's been laughing at me? Don’t you want to know why they call me what they do?” Sabal picked up a handgun, aimed at the tree, and fired. As expected, the bullet punched a hole in the tree. Ajay held out his hand for the gun, took aim at the tree, took a deep breath, and fired. And then he fired again. And again. And again. And then the gun clicked. Ajay reloaded, aimed at the tree, and fired, and fired, and fired, and fired. When he had emptied his second round of bullets, he tossed the gun aside and sat back down.

Not one of them had hit the tree, despite Ajay doing everything he could to aim. The tree wasn’t even that far away. It...well, it really was laughable. Sabal stifled the urge quickly, knowing full well if he laughed Ajay’s next bullet would be aimed at him. Not that he’d be likely to hit.

Sabal shoved down the urge to laugh again. Forcefully. And made sure it would never resurface.

“They call me shell casing Ajay. Because when I fire a gun, the only thing that ever goes where I want it to is the shell casing.” Ajay sighed miserably, and Sabal dared to sit next to him.

“You know, Longinus’s doors are always open, should you wish to practice.” Sabal flinched when he sensed the cloud getting even blacker. Perhaps he ought to just shut up.

“I already have. How do you think I learned to reload a gun? How to aim? It never made any difference, I never got any better. And then that made it worse. Someone caught me at the training ground, and then the laughing got worse, because even with practice I wasn’t getting any better.” Ajay pulled his knees up to his chest. “They started making bets about how many bullets I would waste when I went to clear an outpost. Seven hundred and forty-two was the highest bet. They said I was a waste of bullets, that it would be better for everyone if I just stopped trying to help.” He hid his face in his arms.

“...So here I am. I just want to be left alone now. I won’t waste any more bullets, so just leave me alone.” Sabal ignored the thick sound to Ajay's voice.

“I won’t. I’m staying with you. ...I’ll help teach you to shoot.”

“Don’t bother. I’m hopeless.”

“I don’t believe that. You can learn how to fire a gun. When I’m through with you, they’ll call you shell casing Ajay because when you shoot, the only thing left moving is the shell casing bouncing on the ground.” Sabal thought he saw the barest hint of a smile, but it blinked out half a second later.

“...I can’t go back to Banapur.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t face them again. Not after what they said.”

“...What did they say?” Ajay fell silent.

“...I don't want to talk about it.”

“Tell me, Ajay. No matter how terrible it is. I know it hurt, but you can’t heal if you keep your pain inside. No matter how much you may think so, you can’t live your life up a belltower.” Sabal saw tears pool in Ajay’s eyes, and he pulled him in for a hug so he could hide his face in Sabal’s chest.

“They said…” His voice was just a whisper. “...They said...if I...really...wanted to...st...stop...wasting...bullets...I would...just...put the gun...to my own...head...They said...even then I might miss...that’s how bad my aim was…” Sabal sighed heavily. His own Golden Path members, saying things like that...He shook his head.

“I can give the Golden Path a thorough yelling at before you come back.” Ajay nodded.

“...We’ll set up camp somewhere out in the wilderness. We can practice without being disturbed. When you come back, nobody will mock you ever again. Does that sound good?” Ajay nodded shakily, but he wasn’t ready to get up yet.

***

“Twelve.”

“S-sorry, Ajay?”

“Your bet. How many bullets would I use when I cleared the next outpost? I used twelve. Who won?”

“U-uh…”

“When I was done firing my gun...the only things left moving were the shell casings bouncing on the ground.”


End file.
